West Bromwich Albion 1 - 2 Arsenal: Arsenal cling on to precious three points to go into the top four

First Half

The first half went about as you'd expect. Arsenal, again playing with what is, essentially, a six man midfield, kept the ball for extend periods. West Brom sat back with ten players and Long up front on his own several yards away. With him isolated, West Brom were unable to really maintain any possession in the Arsenal half and only threatened from set-pieces which they, in fairness, almost scored from.

Arsenal were hardly setting things alight at the other end. There was little penetration to go with the possession. A few times, Sagna found space on the right hand flank but delivered disappointing crosses every time, while Cazorla and Giroud were very much on the periphery of the game.

Our first goal when we caught West Brom's defence too high up the pitch. Gervinho made an excellent run across their backline and Arteta found him beautifully with a long pass over the top. Gervinho proceeded to turn the West Brom inside-out before shooting at goal. Rosicky, well-positioned in the centre, diverted the shot in with his head.

Arsenal should have gone in 2-0 up at the break. Cazorla played an excellent through ball into Giroud, who backheeled into the path of Ramsey, who was one-on-one with Foster. All he had to do was poke it in first time, but he opted to take a touch instead and squandered the chance in the process. Very good movement and build-up play all the same.

Second Half

Similar to last week, Arsenal got a goal early in the second half to put themselves firmly in command of the game. Ramsey receives the ball in a forward position and drills a pass into Rosicky's path. Rosicky's first touch is brilliant, setting the ball up nicely to be struck. Foster saves, but can't direct the ball and Rosicky reacts faster than the WBA defenders to hammer in the rebound.

At this point, Arsenal could have gone on to score a third and possibly fourth. They were comfortable, perhaps a bit too much, as once again, a lapse at the back nearly screws us over.

It's a simple matter of Mertesacker lacking pace. He sees Long's run, but finds himself not close enough to the striker to make an interception or to even hold him up. His lack of pace meant that he couldn't hope to make up the ground, so he had no choice but to try and win the ball with a last ditch tackle. He didn't, received a red for denying a goalscoring opportunity, and WBA had a penalty.

Morrison converts the pen, although it wasn't a good penalty at all, and suddenly Arsenal are fighting for their lives. West Brom brought on two powerful strikers in Lukaku and Rosenberg and pretty much players 2-1-2-5, with Ridgewell and Jones pushed right up in the wide areas and their three forwards playing centrally. Arsenal brought off Gervinho to get Vermaelen on, and in doing so they lost a potential outlet.

West Brom were direct with the ball and looked to exploit the aerial ability of their front three. Our back four was deep and narrow; the fullbacks had to be tucked in to ensure that there wasn't a 3v2 at the back. With their fullbacks playing as wingers, they could always play the ball out there and get the ball into the box. Arsenal were lacking a bit of midfield cover and didn't do enough to prevent those crosses, and as a result our goal came under siege. West Brom spurned two great chances to level the game.

Arsenal couldn't keep the ball well due to a combination of bad passing and being too deep. Giroud could never hold onto the ball long enough to allow the Arsenal defence to push up, and West Brom swarmed around our midfielders as soon they got on the ball.

Wenger put on Coquelin and went to a back five, with him as right back and Sagna becoming a third centre back. This seemed to help us deal with West Brom's front three and although we were still penned in, we didn't give up another clear cut chance.

2-1 the final score.

The momentum continues

Undeniably, we rode our luck in the second half. Sharper finishing from West Brom and we probably would have lost the game. Having said that, we did defend well when we went down to ten. West Brom went all out and Arsenal stood up well to it, fighting and scrapping to keep the lead intact. Things went our way and we got a great result.

That win puts us into the top four, albeit with Chelsea and Spurs playing tomorrow. It's our third win on the bounce in the league, fourth in all competition. We've scored 10 goals and conceded 2 in those games. It's fair to say we've entered a period of good form and with our run in, we can keep this form going.

we played well, just merte had a shocker today, s.long gave him so much trouble. ahh well time for verm to prove his worth.

and loool at the new gervinho

REWB wrote:we played well, just merte had a shocker today, long game him so much trouble. ahh well time for verm to prove his worth

Meh Mertesacker was decent up until the red card. But yeah Vermaelen has his chance to prove himself now.

I love that we can actually get points out of these games now. A mark of a good team

There's just something about these kinds of wins that makes me happy.

Mertesacker was having good game until he decided to implode, what happened to him. He was not even put under serious pressure and he just started commiting mistakes after mistakes, now we have to endure the pain of watching the Belgian wafflel maker

Mertesacker made the match more difficult than it would have been. I am sure we would have scored the 3rd with bringing on Oxlade and Podolski but with that red card it was Sunderland all over again

We got incredibly lucky with Lukaku and Long missing.

precious, precious 3 points

Typical Arsenal way

HEY stoke look at our passing in last 20+ mins

but them wescrubromwich albion completed only 9 more final 3rd passes than us despite man advantage

great had fought victory
Thank u Rozza

since we received some early yellows i could see that(sent off)coming!

We were very good till the red card. It's worrying how we can't keep the ball for more than 5 seconds when we are a men down, I mean I've seen worse teams do that against us, it shouldn't be *THAT* big of a problem really. We defended well but were also lucky we didn't concede in the last 15 minutes.

Anyway 3 points, Norwich next. Rosicky/Gervais/Koscielny man of the match.

Rosicky: 2 Goals, 3/4 Shots on Target, 2 Chances Created, 84% Pass Acc, 1 Goal-Line Clearance



\m/ Rock on

Rozza

Good to see us winning these type of games but shouldn't we be keeping the ball in those moments rather than hoisting it forward so that they can attack again and again.

Also Gervais and Ramsey showing decent form, not good enough to be here but trying their best

Sina wrote:Rosicky: 2 Goals, 3/4 Shots on Target, 2 Chances Created, 84% Pass Acc, 1 Goal-Line Clearance



\m/ Rock on

better Attacking mid then the overrated Cazorla to be honest

cazorla is best on the wing, he has been in great form lately playing there. however, atm rosicky is better than cazorla in the AM position, thats for sure, an in form rosicky is one of the best AM's in the world imo so no shame in it.

enjoyed the tension this match offered.. this is entertainment at its best... its Arsenal..

cant believe how this match turned.. but it was not a complete surprise for me.. we know these things keep happening to us.. i expected Ramsey to pick a second yellow or Kos to make some rash challenges.. but the red card was a real stupid one and it came from the most unusual one.. i thought he was not good today even before the card.. he failed to mark Long and on many times was covered by kos.. and that poor pass to Kos which put us in trouble.. Kos was his usual good..
btw, i liked some of the professional fouls done by us today by Arteta and Kos.. Fabianski again showed his nervousness in air but held on well in the end to win us 3 points..
Rosicky was not anywhere near his best, but showed excellent reflexes and awareness to score both the goals..
Gervinho didnt have much time on the ball today, but was excellent near the box.. Monreal was also excellent today.. great defensive work at LB..
Ramsey was playing as the deepest of the three today.. he did well except for some giveaways and that miss which could have been a classical Arsenal goal.. Giroud had another selfless hardworking dayout.. Cazorla and Arteta were decent..

Ratings

Fabianski - 7
Sagna - 6
Kos - 6
Metskr - 4
Monreal - 7
Arteta - 6
Ramsey - 6
Cazorla - 6
Gervinho - 7
Giroud - 6
Rosicky - 7

REWB wrote:cazorla is best on the wing, he has been in great form lately playing there. however, atm rosicky is better than cazorla in the AM position, thats for sure, an in form rosicky is one of the best AM's in the world imo so no shame in it.

those little burst of pace and turns he uses to create space are just

Cazorla "better on the wing" is strange to say given how centrally he still tends to play when he is nominally placed on the flank ...

REWB wrote:cazorla is best on the wing, he has been in great form lately playing there. however, atm rosicky is better than cazorla in the AM position, thats for sure, an in form rosicky is one of the best AM's in the world imo so no shame in it.

totally agree.. but he did not look as sharp as he can be, even today.. but this will do his confidence good and he is always an asset for many more years if he can stay injury free.. i always thought Cazorla should not play as CAM.. it should be Rozza or Jack.. Cazorla is so brilliant that he can still influence the game from the wings..

Arsene Wenger on Rosicky: "I hope he finishes his career with us. He still has one year on his contract. I rate him very highly.

Cazorla wasn't really on the wing. We had no proper LW. Cazorla/Ramsey/Rosicky kept taking turns playing there

Check the last 2 posts in the Arsenal tactics thread. We played a narrow 4-4-1-1 in a way

I believe Rosicky (and I'm not just saying this now) on form, especially if he could play a couple seasons straight, would be a top 10 AM. Beautiful display.

And dat picture

These are the wins champions require to earn their pedigree. Matches you grind out.

RealGunner wrote:Cazorla wasn't really on the wing. We had no proper LW. Cazorla/Ramsey/Rosicky kept taking turns playing there

Check the last 2 posts in the Arsenal tactics thread. We played a narrow 4-4-1-1 in a way

Considering how Gibbs plays you don't really need one tbh.

Just looking at the Premier League table:

1. Man Utd - P30 77 PTS
2. Man City - P30 62 PTS
3. Spurs - P31 57 PTS
4. Arsenal - P31 56 PTS
5. Chelsea - P30 55 PTS

There's a chance we could actually sneak into 2nd.

said the same 2 months ago when the situation was nearly the same. We lost like 3 games after that instantly

That would be the most misleading finish of all time

And City would really have to bottle it. The only matches I can see them losing out of their remaining ones would be away to United, away to Spurs (which wouldn't help us unless we're above them at that point, which would mean it wouldn't matter) and maybe away to Swansea.

But other than United and Spurs their fixtures are seemingly straightforward. That includes Wigan of course, bottom teams aren't easy.